IORA

The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is a regional organisation established in 1997 in Mauritius to foster economic cooperation, trade facilitation, and sustainable development among littoral states of the Indian Ocean. It was originally known as the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) and renamed IORA in 2013.

IORA has 23 Member States spanning Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania, including Australia, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Iran, Kenya, the UAE, and Mauritius, among others. It also recognises a number of Dialogue Partners, including China, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Germany, Russia, the Republic of Korea, Egypt, Italy, and Türkiye, reflecting the strategic interest extra-regional powers take in the Indian Ocean.

The Association operates through an annual Council of Ministers meeting, a Committee of Senior Officials, and a Secretariat headquartered in Ebène, Mauritius. Leadership rotates through a troika of past, current, and incoming chairs.

IORA's work is organised around six priority areas: maritime safety and security; trade and investment facilitation; fisheries management; disaster risk management; academic, science and technology cooperation; and tourism and cultural exchanges. Two cross-cutting issues — the blue economy and women's economic empowerment — were added as strategic focus areas, with the blue economy formally adopted as a priority at the 2014 Council of Ministers meeting in Perth.

Key documents include the IORA Charter, the Jakarta Concord (adopted at the first IORA Leaders' Summit in March 2017 marking the body's 20th anniversary), and the IORA Action Plan 2017–2021, succeeded by subsequent action plans. The Jakarta Concord articulated a shared vision for a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Indian Ocean region.

Compared to bodies like ASEAN or the African Union, IORA is a relatively low-profile, consensus-based forum without binding treaty obligations or a free trade agreement. Its convening role has grown amid rising geopolitical competition in the Indo-Pacific, where the Indian Ocean is increasingly treated as a strategic theatre.